On 8/12/2011 12:02 AM, Bill wrote:
Leon wrote:
On 8/11/2011 8:01 PM, Han wrote:
Leonlcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote in
:

On 8/11/2011 3:39 PM, Han wrote:
Leonlcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote in
:

On 8/11/2011 11:54 AM, Han wrote:


The counterargument is whether you'd want your kids to be educated
by high school teachers who make 40K/year.

I was educated by teachers that made far less and were far superior
to most today. Our educational system throws more money at the
problem than ever and yet the results are far worse. A higher
salary is not going to get a better teacher. I guarantee you that
if all teachers were given a 50% raise today that in 5 years the
same teachers would still be teaching and the kids would not be
learning any more than they are right now. If you want the kids to
learn more the teachers will have to be held to a higher standard,
be re-certified periodically, and paid for their performance.

Agree. Teachers should be more motivated (especially the ones doing
it already for a long time) and kids should be more willing to learn.
Ask the Brits were the parents were ...

The work rules now stink. Get tenure, and you're practically set for
life. OTOH, capricious or malicious firing is very difficult now.
It goes both ways, but I agree, it should be easier to "grade"
teachers and remunerate accordingly. Of course, if you get dealt a
bunch of really unruly and stupid kids one year, life sucks.

I often think and believe that we are in this lousy situation because
95% of us live beyond our means. Yes I can afford that house if I get
a 40 year mortgage with interest only/no principal on the front 10
years but should I? If only the schools would teach and require
students to learn the true cost of borrowing money, how to make good
financial decisions, and learn that borrowing money should be done as
a last resort. This is absolutely as important as any subject being
taught in school. With few exceptions if you have to borrow money to
buy something you probably need to reevaluate you life style. If the
wife works to help make ends meet you need to reevaluate your life
style. IMHO one parent needs to stay home, plain and simple. When
both parents are working, WHO is watching the kids????? The teachers
would have a lot more success in teaching if a parent was at home when
the kids got home.

Rant well-taken. My mother was always home, and so was my wife's, but
her mother is another story. (See, it doesn't always work the way it
should). For us, we both had to bring in money if we wanted to live.
When the kids came, my wife went into daycare (times were easier on the
regulations way back then, but the pay was lower too). At first, we had
had a babysitter, but after the third time that she said, by the way,
next Monday you have to find someone else because I quit, my wife
started
to take in kids. Then we moved to New York, and we got a babysitter.
Wife went to work early, I dropped the kids off later, and my wife
picked
them up around 4. Made for less family time, but it worked well. Both
my kids became good people. So, that situation also can work. Now, both
my daughter and SIL have to work, and my wife wlks over in the
morning to
help the granddaughters off to school, and is back there when they come
home. We think they'll be big enough to be a few hours after school by
themselves, and if not, the other grandparents live arounf the corner
and
can do something too.



My wife and I had our first and only child after being married 6 years.
She was always ready, I was not, but it was meant to happen. almost 24
years ago our son was born. We did the personal baby sitter/nanny thing
and that led to day care, private school/day care, and then one day when
our son, Bryan, was 7 and in a private school I had had enough of my
job, I hated it. I have always been in automotive management, I had my
own tire store at 21. The last formal job I had I was the GM of a
wholesale AC/Delco distributor. Finally I said I had had enough and
turned in my resignation, I was asked to take a 2 week vacation and
reconsider, I came back an quit.

I became the at home parent and began this custom design and furniture
building business at home to keep me busy. Not going to a job every day
went against every survival instinct that I had. We probably took a 60%
income cut when I quit working the 9 to 5 routine. My son immediately
started going to public schools when he started third grade. He had a
great teacher that helped him transition from an 8 student classroom to
a 35 student class room. Bryan did well in school, strictly an A,B
student, certainly better than his parents ever did in school but my
wife and I had to battle with the incompetent teachers that would take
home work and immediately throw it in the trash can because some one was
out of line. We saw this type teacher behavior time and again and had
one on ones with the principal and teacher way too often. All of the
students were treated this way but we seemed to be the only parents that
cared. I was the first to tell the teacher that I wanted to hear of any
problems that my son might be causing, that never happened. Teachers
would seek us out at PTA meetings to compliment us on how well behaved
Bryan was. I don't think so much that we did any thing special other
than one of us was at home every day when Bryan came home from school.
Other kids did not have that benefit.

Bryan flourished. He was invited to attend a special high school in a
poor school district. We thank God for that school and the opportunities
Bryan had at that school. Unlike the typical baby sitter school this
school was by invitation only. This school operated much like a college
and many of the students had a hard time coping with the first few weeks
of school. Each class passed out the semester itinerary and it was
totally up to the student to perform all the work, attend the seminars,
and schedule their own tests. The school taught time management and
responsibility. College bound graduates consistently averaged above 97%.
This school was not looking for smart kids, as the only requirement to
attend was that applicants conduct grade be satisfactory or better. On
the other hand, the teachers had to have much better qualifications to
teach at that school. There was never a shortage of teachers waiting in
the wings to fill a position should one come up.

College was an easy transition for Bryan, because of his SAT scores, so
so in the grammar/English section, pretty high in the math section, he
was invited to apply to the Honors College at the U of H. He, shall we
say, was lucky to be accepted. I warned him that the curriculum would be
more rigorous but the benefits would be long lasting. He made his first
C his first semester. That never happened again. Three of his professors
tried to get him to change his major including a strong offer to go
towards working on his doctorate and teaching at the college. Another
wanted him to change to investment management, and another wanted him to
work towards a federal tax degree. He stayed the course and ended up
graduating with a bachelors in Accountancy, Summa Cum Laude. One year
later he had his Masters degree, 4 months later he had filled all
requirements to become a CPA except the for the required year of work
experience. He passed all 4 CPA exams with a 94 average, first try.

Today, 10 months later he has almost gotten his year behind him and he
works for KPMG. They recruited him in January of 2009 and he went to
work "very full time" last October. He loves his job although he does
have long hours during the busy season, Jan -April. He logs
approximately 300 -350 hours per month during that period. Not unusual
for him to work 7 days a week, get home at 1:00-2:00 am and be back at
work at 7:00am.

I attribute a lot of his of his success to good work ethic and some one
being at home when he got home from school.

Bryan is still single, is a home owner and hopes to be "totally" debt
free by the end of next year. Not too bad for a 23 year old guy.


Did he build any of the furniture in his house?

Actually he assisted me in building his night stand and dresser many
years ago.